Am I Hungry? Blog

Hunger is the Best Seasoning

Thursday, I let myself get too hungry. It was a busy afternoon at work and I worked late. Going nonstop, I failed to listen to my hunger signals until I arrived home. By then, it had been over 8 hours since I’d eaten and I was starving. Definitely a 2, bordering on a 1, on the hunger scale.

Our menu plan for dinner was chicken and rice soup. It is a favorite, tried and true recipe we’ve made for decades. It is quite similar to the chicken and rice soup recipe in Eat What You Love, Love What You Eat on page 343. It’s one of the recipes my husband makes and the aroma greeted me at the door.

I asked, “Am I hungry? – You betcha,” and I raced to the kitchen. Then, I remembered Dr. May’s sage advice when famished, “Use caution.” I followed her recommendation, slowed down, paid attention, and ate mindfully. By doing so, I didn’t overeat and stopped when I was satisfied.

This is very different than what I would have done in the past. It seemed like the best soup I’d ever eaten. After dinner, I said to my husband, “That was fantastic; very satisfying. It was exactly what I wanted.” Being the adorable, funny, and often sarcastic guy that he is, he asked, “Hmmm…are we still talking about dinner?”

Laughing, I realized, when you’re a foodie like me, and especially when you’re starving, making love may be higher on the list of the best things in life, but eating doesn’t follow too far behind.

About the author

Charlene Rayburn, CVCC, lives her passion for mindfulness and intentional leadership by serving as a personal and professional leadership coach, by managing a department of dedicated employees for a Fortune 500 sized health insurance organization, and by facilitating Am I Hungry?Â® workshops and coaching sessions. She has coached extensively with individuals and groups outside the corporate world, as well as with executives, leaders, and teams in non-profit, private, public, governmental, and educational organizations spanning the globe.
Charlene received her coaching certificate through the Center for Coaching Mastery at Coachville, LLC, and earned a Bachelor of Business Administration Degree in Management from Davenport University. She is a member of the National Management Association. One of her most emotionally challenging and rewarding experiences was serving as a volunteer at the Center for Battered Women.
Charlene currently lives in Michigan and enjoys spending time with her husband of over 20 years, reading, learning, cooking, practicing yoga, and watching her grandson grow, who lives with his dad, her stepson in Fort Worth, Texas.

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